People who bought this also bought...

The Nightmare

The chilling phenomenon begins again. On a summer night the dead body of a woman is found on board an abandoned pleasure boat drifting around in the Stockholm archipelago. Her lungs are filled with brackish water, but there are no traces of this water on her clothes or other parts of her body. Detective Inspector Joona Linna takes up the case. Forensics state that it was a simple drowning, that she must have been pulled aboard the boat which explains the lack of brackish water.

The Fire Witness

Flora has seen it all, but nobody believes her. The girl is dead, someone killed her. She was only 14 years old, named Miranda, and was found in her room at the institution for young women in distress, north of Stockholm. The walls were splashed with blood, the sheets were soaked with it. None of the other girls know what happened, but one of them has fled into the night. What Flora does not know is that it is the redoubtable Joona Linna who will be investigating the worst and most puzzling crime of his career.

Mercy: Department Q, Book 1

The unabridged, digital audiobook edition of Jussi Adler-Olsen’s Mercy, Scandinavia’s new bestselling crime phenomenon. Read by the actor Steven Pacey. At first the prisoner scratches at the walls until her fingers bleed. But there is no escaping the room. With no way of measuring time, her days, weeks, months go unrecorded. She vows not to go mad. She will not give her captors the satisfaction.

I'm Travelling Alone: Holger Munch & Mia Kruger, Book 1

When a six-year-old girl is found dead, hanging from a tree, the only clue the Oslo Police have to work with is an airline tag around her neck. It reads, 'I'm travelling alone'. Holger Munch, veteran police investigator, is immediately charged with reassembling his homicide unit. But to complete the team, he must convince his erstwhile partner, Mia Krüger - a brilliant but troubled investigator - to return from the solitary island where she has retreated with plans to take her own life.

The Party

A taut psychological tale of obsession and betrayal set over the course of a dinner party, The Party tells the story of two married couples who, in a single evening, will come to question everything they thought they knew about each other as the long-buried secret at the heart of their friendship comes to the surface, culminating in an explosive act of violence.

The Fourth Monkey

Se7en meets The Silence of the Lambs in this dark and twisting novel from the author Jeffery Deaver called "a talented writer with a delightfully devious mind". For over five years, the Four Monkey Killer has terrorized the residents of Chicago. When his body is found, the police quickly realize he was on his way to deliver one final message, one that proves he has taken another victim, who may still be alive.

Call Me Princess

An online flirtation can have horrific consequences, as Detective Inspector Louise Rick discovers when she is called to an idyllic Copenhagen neighborhood where a young woman has been left bound and gagged after a profoundly brutal rape attack. Susanne Hansson met her rapist on a popular dating website; fearing the assailant is trolling the site for his next target, Louise is determined to cut him off at the pass. But then a new victim is found - dead this time - and the case becomes even more complex when Susanne attempts suicide.

Winter's chill has descended on Stockholm as police arrive at the scene of a shocking murder. An unidentified woman lies beheaded in a posh suburban home - a brutal crime made all the more disturbing by its uncanny resemblance to an unsolved killing 10 years earlier. But this time there's a suspect: the charismatic and controversial chain-store CEO Jesper Orre, who owns the home but is nowhere to be found.

The Bat: The First Inspector Harry Hole Novel

Before Harry took on the neo-Nazi gangs of Oslo, before he met Rakel, before The Snowman tried to take everything he held dear, he went to Australia. Harry Hole is sent to Sydney to investigate the murder of Inger Holter, a young Norwegian girl who was working in a bar. Initially sidelined as an outsider, Harry becomes central to the Australian police investigation when they start to notice a number of unsolved rape and murder cases around the country. The victims were usually young blondes. Inger had a number of admirers, each with his own share of secrets, but there is no obvious suspect.

The Crow Girl: A Novel

In a Stockholm city park, police discover the hideously abused body of a young boy. Detective Superintendent Jeanette Kihlberg heads the investigation, battling an apathetic prosecutor and a bureaucratic police force unwilling to devote resources to solving the murder of a nameless immigrant child. But with the discovery of two more mutilated children's corpses, it becomes clear that a serial killer is at large.

Liar

How far would you go to protect your family? Single dad Ben is doing his best to raise his children, with the help of his devoted mother, Judi. And then Ben meets Amber. Everyone thinks this is a perfect match for Ben, but Judi isn't so sure.... There's just something about Amber that doesn't add up. Ben can't see why his mother dislikes his new girlfriend. And Amber doesn't want Judi anywhere near her new family. Amber just wants Ben and the children.

Cash City

It is an obsession that has haunted Nick Malick for seven years - to avenge the murder of his young son. In his gut Malick knows who did it. But the psychopath is in prison for another crime, scheduled to be released in a year. All Malick has to do is wait...and survive.

Time Heals No Wounds: A Baltic Sea Crime Novel, Book 1

Freshly trained detective Johannes "Hannes" Niehaus is brand new to the Criminal Investigation Department. And his partner, unconventional veteran detective Fritz Janssen, isn't the least bit thrilled to train a rookie. When a woman's body washes up on the nearby shores of the Baltic Sea, Hannes gets his first taste of real crime - and a chance to prove himself. Quickly the investigation pulls him and Fritz into a whirlpool of dangerous, decades-old cover-ups.

The Crossing Places

When she's not digging up bones or other ancient objects, Ruth Galloway lectures at the University of North Norfolk. She lives happily alone in a remote place called Saltmarsh overlooking the North Sea and, for company; she has her cats Flint and Sparky, and Radio 4. When a child's bones are found in the marshes near an ancient site that Ruth worked on ten years earlier, Ruth is asked to date them.

Silent Child

In the summer of 2006, Emma Price watched helplessly as her six-year-old son's red coat was fished out of the River Ouse. It was the tragic story of the year - a little boy, Aiden, wandered away from school during a terrible flood, fell into the river, and drowned. His body was never recovered. Ten years later Emma has finally rediscovered the joy in life...until Aiden returns.

No Name Lane

The hunt for a serial killer unearths an unsolved cold case from over 60 years ago. Young girls are being abducted and murdered in the Northeast. Out of favour detective constable Ian Bradshaw struggles to find any leads - and fears that the only thing this investigation will unravel is himself. Journalist Tom Carney is suspended by his London tabloid and returns to his home village in County Durham. Helen Norton is the reporter who replaced Tom on the local newspaper. Together they are drawn into a case that will change their lives forever.

A Tapping at My Door

From the best-selling author of Cry Baby, the beginning of a brilliant and gripping police procedural series set in Liverpool, perfect for fans of Peter James and Mark Billingham. A woman at home in Liverpool is disturbed by a persistent tapping at her back door. She's disturbed to discover the culprit is a raven and tries to shoo it away. Which is when the killer strikes. DS Nathan Cody, still bearing the scars of an undercover mission that went horrifyingly wrong, is put on the case.

A Dark So Deadly

Welcome to the Misfit Mob... It's where Police Scotland dumps the officers it can't get rid of but wants to: the outcasts, the troublemakers, the compromised. Officers like DC Callum MacGregor, lumbered with all the boring go-nowhere cases. So when an ancient mummy turns up at the Oldcastle tip, it's his job to find out which museum it's been stolen from. But then Callum uncovers links between his ancient corpse and three missing young men, and life starts to get a lot more interesting.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Forty years ago, Harriet Vanger disappeared from a family gathering on the island owned and inhabited by the powerful Vanger clan. Her body was never found, yet her uncle is convinced it was murder - and that the killer is a member of his own tightly knit but dysfunctional family. He employs disgraced financial journalist Mikael Blomkvist and the tattooed, truculent computer hacker Lisbeth Salander to investigate.

The Cold, Cold Ground: Detective Sean Duffy, Book 1

Adrian McKinty was born in Carrickfergus, Northern Ireland. He studied politics and philosophy at Oxford before moving to America in the early 1990s. Living first in Harlem, he found employment as a construction worker, barman, and bookstore clerk. In 2000 he moved to Denver to become a high school English teacher and it was there that he began writing fiction.

The Girl in the Ice: Detective Erika Foster Crime Thriller, Book 1

When a young boy discovers the body of a woman beneath a thick sheet of ice in a South London park, Detective Erika Foster is called in to lead the murder investigation. The victim, a beautiful young socialite, appeared to have the perfect life. Yet when Erika begins to dig deeper, she starts to connect the dots between the murder and the killings of three prostitutes, all found strangled, hands bound, and dumped in water around London.

The Secrets She Keeps: A Novel

Agatha is pregnant and works part time stocking shelves at a grocery store in a ritzy London suburb, counting down the days until her baby is due. As the hours of her shifts creep by in increasing discomfort, the one thing she looks forward to at work is catching a glimpse of Meghan, the effortlessly chic customer whose elegant lifestyle dazzles her. Meghan has it all: two perfect children, a handsome husband, a happy marriage, and a stylish group of friends, and she writes perfectly droll confessional posts on her popular parenting blog.

Red Ribbons: Dr. Kate Pearson, Book 1

A missing schoolgirl is found buried in the Dublin Mountains, hands clasped together in prayer, two red ribbons in her hair. Twenty-four hours later, a second schoolgirl is found in a shallow grave - her body identically arranged. The hunt for the killer is on. The police call in criminal psychologist Kate Pearson to get inside the mind of the murderer before he strikes again. But the more Kate discovers about the killings, the more it all feels terrifyingly familiar.

The Cruelest Cut: Jack Murphy Thriller Series, Book 1

The first victim is attacked in her home. Tied to her bed. Forced to watch every unspeakable act of cruelty - but unable to scream. The second murder is even more twisted. Signed, sealed, and delivered with a message for the police, stuffed in the victim's throat. A fractured nursery rhyme that ends with a warning: "There will be more". For detective Jack Murphy, it's more than a threat. It's a personal invitation to play.

Publisher's Summary

An international sensation, The Hypnotist is set to appear in 37 countries, and it has landed at the top of best-seller lists wherever it’s been published—in France, Holland, Germany, Spain, Italy, Denmark. Now it’s America’s turn. Combining the addictive power of Stieg Larsson’s Millennium trilogy with the storytelling drive of The Silence of the Lambs, this adrenaline-drenched thriller is spellbinding from its very first minute.

Tumba, Sweden. A triple homicide—all the victims from the same family—captivates Detective Inspector Joona Linna, who demands to investigate the grisly murders, against the wishes of the national police. The killer is at large, and it appears that the elder sister of the family escaped the carnage; it seems only a matter of time until she, too, is murdered.

But where can Linna begin? The only surviving witness is the boy whose mother, father, and little sister were killed before his eyes. Whoever committed the crimes intended for this boy to die: he has suffered more than 100 knife wounds and lapsed into a state of shock. He’s in no condition to be questioned.

Desperate for information, Linna sees one mode of recourse: hypnotism. He enlists Dr. Erik Maria Bark to mesmerize the boy, hoping to discover the killer through his eyes. It’s the sort of work that Bark had sworn he would never do again—ethically dubious and psychically scarring. When he breaks his promise and hypnotizes the victim, a long and terrifying chain of events begins to unfurl.

A number-one best-selling international sensation sure to please fans of Stieg Larsson and Henning Mankell, The Hypnotist is the first novel in a series. With its pulse-pounding hooks and twists, it announces a stirring new contribution to the annals of crime fiction.

This was not a bad book by any means, but I wouldn't say it was outstanding, either. Suspenseful crime novels tend to follow a pattern because that pattern is appealing to the reader. In this novel, what was first presented as the primary story line was abruptly resolved three quarters of the way through the book without so much as one unexpected fact, and was never referred to again. The secondary story line, at first believed to be part of the first, did not take a surprising turn but a tedious one. It did not veer shockingly, but meandered slowly through short chapters that disclosed too much too soon.
As I listened to the novel I felt anticipation, because I was waiting for an unexpected twist. Yet none of the resolutions were a surprise, and I grew impatient with the story as it threw one dramatic episode after another in front of me, seemingly to delay the conclusion of what I already knew.

As for the narrator, given the difficulty of reading a novel aloud I would give him high marks, although I did not care for the weak, whiny tone of most female and young voices.

After reading the hype, I was not sure that this could live up to the international bestseller label, but I found myself listening compulsively. The strength was really in the body of the story and the main characters. The mystery itself and the resolution were not quite as satisfying, as peripheral characters are picked up and dropped. I heartily recommend this and will look forward to more.

The Hypnotist has become my favorite book of 2011 and one of my all-time favorites. Well written, well narrated, and an absolute edge-of-your-seat thrill! If you want a book that will keep you guessing, make you think, and even have you making sure your doors are locked, then this one is for you.

The writing style ad reader were pretty good, definitely enough to keep me listening to the end (and that's not a given!) I might try another title by this author. But there were huge gaps in timeline and logic, and poorly researched medical details, that frequently took me out of the story. I can't give details without major spoilers, butI think with experience and more available time for research, the author might be okay. I liked the characters for the most part - though the main guy's voice sounded oddly feminine despite the narrator being male. They were well developed and interesting. The plot could have been wrapped up much more tightly at the end but it wound up giving a sense of real life by not wrapping everything up perfectly.

Bottom line (and I don't know if this is the case) it reads like a second o third novel where the author is under deadline pressure, still working a day job and trying to promote his prior book while also spending time with his family.

The story is entirely unique and therefore the mystery is fun to see it unfurl. I found the reader irritating, but the strength of the plot made up that as well as various lack of character development. I reccomend this book, especially due to it's principal subject matter.

From the book description:Tumba, Sweden. A triple homicide—all the victims from the same family—captivates Detective Inspector Joona Linna, who demands to investigate the grisly murders, against the wishes of the national police. The killer is at large, and it appears that the elder sister of the family escaped the carnage; it seems only a matter of time until she, too, is murdered.
I was reluctant to purchase this after reading several Kindle reviews that described the book as confusing. I have to say that I really enjoyed the Audible version of this book. It had lots of twists and turns and kept me engrossed. The narrator did a superb job of giving a distinct voice to all of the characters. It was a thriller in the true sense of the word.

This listen was less than an okay story for me. Three stars are "okay" but it rates more than 2 stars.... maybe 2.5 stars. I'm not sure if was the writing style, the format, the narrator or was it because the story stopped building about midway through and became totally disjointed and somewhat confusing. But there were bits and pieces of the story that were interesting so I kept listening.

To me, it seemed that two stories were made into one by an illogical connection. It didn't seem to have a focus, the story was all over the place. The first third of so of the story was told from one character's point of view and then suddenly changed to another character's point of view. Additionally, there were flashbacks where new characters were introduced as well as new characters introduced in the present. There were no unexpected twists or turns, except for the illogical ending as it related to the central character - "the hypnotist." Also, the "why" of the story made no sense at all.

I agree with reviewer, Jennifer of Monroe, WA, that the Swedish names were hard to follow so that added to some of the confusion that I felt pretty much throughout the novel. Also, I would have preferred a more linear storyline for this novel.

I suppose the narrator was okay, hard to know since the story was confusing.

This is a very hard book to review, because after coming to the end I am trying to decide whether it was difficult because of the style of writing or characters, and whether I hated it or not, or whether my expectations influenced my final opinion of the book. I will try and do my best to give a comprehensive review and my experience reading the book without giving too much away;

First I think that the title "The Hypnotist" can be slightly misleading, because really the story is no more about the hypnotist than it is about the lead detective/the hypnotist's wife/the hypnotist's son/the suspect.... The fact that the narrative does not seem to focus on one character more than another is partially why the book has a disjointed feel. We start with the perspective of the lead detective and stay with him for long enough to get comfortable, to see the world through his eyes and his thoughts, and then we get jerked away quite suddenly to another character, which would be fine if the first person perspective went back and forth between a few characters following a linear story line, and experiencing it from their eyes, but from there it gets more confusing...If you have seen the movie Go, or Pulp Fiction that will help to understand how the first 1/4-1/3 of this book is told, and it is confusing because you do not realize right away that you keep jumping back in time because new characters are being introduced in both the past and present. I am not sure if this is more difficult in a written format than a cinematic, because you do not have visuals to go on, and the Swedish names are already hard to follow. To make things even more confusing this format of story telling is abandoned and goes back to a linear format.

I hardily agree with other reviews that this book is in need of some MAJOR editing, because the characters that we think we should care about are in some ways abandoned and we go down literary rabbit holes as it were with story arcs about the hypnotist's wife's affair, their son spending time with a girl friend in a mall, all seem perfunctory and do not have much (if anything) to do with the central point of the story, which itself get's lost *(more about that in a minute).This book I think is all the more frustrating because it is not so out rightly bad that you would just stop reading, instead you keep thinking there must be some big reveal, that things are all going to come together in the end (they don't). But with the afore mentioned film "Go" the storytelling tightens everything up, brings the story together, and the different plot lines come together for a satisfying whole, this book does the opposite, the storytelling makes the plot spread out like an ink stain, and rather than everything coming together, everything seems to spread apart into fragmented pieces.*Now to address my earlier comment about what we think is the central point of the story; our grisly murders are basically solved (in a sense) quite early in the book, and the main suspect is known, something then happens that keeps this plot flowing, BUT suddenly we are diverted to a side story about a former patient of the hypnotist that has nothing to do with the murders at all, and this side story has another side story that has nothing to do with either of the other side stories and is about kids playing Pokemon. Confused yet?

I will quickly note that the reader does a good job of the narration.

Ultimately this book is confusing, frustrating and unsatisfying, all the more so because you sort of feel inclined to stick with it because you think everything must wrap up neatly in the end, it doesn't. Rather it feels like a small group of rather talented writes sat in a circle, started a story, and then said "tag you're it", and passed it on to the next writer to do whatever with it, and so on.

This audio book drags on and on. As another reader reported, the plot changes several times. With so much detail about the gore of a murder at the beginning of the book you might be led to believe that solving this murder is the main point of the plot - not even close. There is way too much trivia about people and places that will never be mentioned again. It is driving me crazy, yet I am determined to finish it. This author is not a rival for Steig Larson. If I could get my money back, I would. Don't bother to buy this one of you love good books.